Main content

Sea Travelling

Laurie Taylor hears about the tough lives of seafarers and the trailblazers who mapped our oceans.

Laurie Taylor talks to Helen Sampson, Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, about her voyage into the lives and work of seafarers. 25 years of fieldwork on merchant cargo ships has given her an unusual insight into the changing realities of life onboard and the gap between romantic notions of sea travel and the harsher realities - from isolation from friends and family to the monotony of daily life, increasing regulation and surveillance. Also, Sara Caputo, Senior Research Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, illuminates the way in which the history of mapping the oceans reflects the creation of the modern world as we know it, via centuries of trading, exploring and conquering.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 20 Oct 2024 06:05

Featured

  • .

Guests and further reading

-, Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University

(Routledge)


- , Senior Research Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge

Tracks on the Ocean: A History of Trailblazing, Maps and Maritime TravelΒ (Profile Books)

Broadcasts

  • Tue 15 Oct 2024 15:30
  • Sun 20 Oct 2024 06:05

Explore further with The Open University

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Thinking Allowed is produced in partnership with The Open University

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Podcast